9 LinkedIn Metrics to Keep Your Eye On!

Establish Your LinkedIn ROI and Grow Your Business Tracking These LinkedIn Metrics.

If you know why you are on LinkedIn and have set some SMART goals for yourself, then it makes sense to take the extra steps of measuring your ROI, growth and success. Measuring your progress will help you stay on track and reach your goals.

There are 2 types of metrics you can measure on LinkedIn: Quantitative Measurements and Qualitative Measurements. Today we'll look at Quantitative Measurements (associated with numbers).

QUANTITATIVE:

1. Total Connections
2. New Invitations
3. LinkedIn Profile Views
4. Ranking
5. Endorsements
6. Personal Update Views
7. Post Views
8. Company Page Followers
9. Company Page Update Views and Analytics

1. TOTAL CONNECTIONS

You can find your total connections on the right side of your home page. You will see both your first level connections (who you have invited, or who has invited you) and the size of your entire network. You should know that you are only as visible, and therefore LinkedIn is only as effective, as the size of your network. So its good idea to know where you stand right now. You might want to take a screen shot or at least make note of your numbers today.

Ninja Tip: Joining groups will help you grow your network exponentially without having to spend a singe invite!

2. NEW INVITATIONS

While there is no one place to see your new connections an a daily basis, under the Connections tab you can sort by “New” and that should give you a pretty good idea of your weekly connection growth. You want to keep an eye on these numbers to make sure they do not get stagnant. A little strategic growth every week can make all the difference to your success on LinkedIn.

Ninja Tip: You also want to respond to everyone who invited you to connect with a “Thank you for connecting, here’s a bit about me” letter.

3. LINKEDIN PROFILE VIEWS

“Who’s Viewed Your Profile?” is new an improved. Not only showing you who viewed your profile (the last 5 with the free account, everyone with a basic premium account), but how they found you, what companies they work for, where they live and what their titles are. All extremely useful metrics to have!

Ninja Tip: People who view your profile are usually clients, competition or leads! Why not message or invite a few of these folks to connect?

4. RANKING

LinkedIn recently introduced Ranking (found right under Who’s Viewed Your Profile”.) Based entirely on profile views, it shows you how other people in your Company, Profession and Network rank by number and percentage. The number will often change (I tend to go from #38 to #55 on any given day because of the super connectors in my network) but the percentage (I’m always top 1%) should hold steady or increase as you engage more on LinkedIn.

Ninja Tip: Check out the profile of people who rank higher than you in “Professionals Like You” and see what they are doing to engage. Are they writing lots of posts? Sharing Updates? Have 500+ connections? Emulate them where possible.

5. ENDORSEMENTS

While I am not the hugest fan of endorsements (regularly getting endorsements form people I don’t know on things I don’t do,) other people look at those numbers. So it makes sense to add the skills you truly want to be endorsed for, and arrange them in the order you most want to be endorsed.

Ninja Tip: Its OK to endorse other people in the hopes that they endorse you back. And when folks endorse you, why not thank them for it. It’s a great way to start a conversation with a prospect!

6: PROFILE UPDATE VIEWS

LinkedIn also recently released “Who’s Viewed Your Updates” that shows you how many views, likes, shares and comments your updates are receiving. Found under Who’s Viewed Your Profile, it’s a great way to engage with folks who are in your network.

Ninja Tip: Since LinkedIn makes engaging with anyone but 1 level connections difficult and expensive, using this feature to engage with 2 and 3 level connections is an easy way to build new relationships and engage with prospects who already like what you are sharing!

7: POST VIEWS

Since LinkedIn released Publisher to everyone, post views have decreased a bit. But boy – when something goes viral on LinkedIn, it goes big in a big way! Keep an eye on your post views (and comment and shares) and make sure to engage with the folks engaging with you!

Ninja Tip: Read this article in the Social Media Examiner: (http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/linkedin-publisher-to-get-visibility/) or this article in Pulse.

8: COMPANY PAGE FOLLOWERS

If you have a Company Page on LinkedIn then keep an eye on who is following your numbers. Get that base line now.

Are you even telling people about your company page? Using your company page link in your email signature? Using the company page social button on your website? Let them know!

Ninja Tip: To get your Company Profile Plugin, click here: https://developer.linkedin.com/plugins

9: COMPANY PAGE ANALYTICS

One benefit LinkedIn Company pages is that you get to see just how successful your updates have been in the Analytics section. Whether you are doing a general post, a targeted update, or sponsored update – LinkedIn analytics will give you the information you need to create stronger campaigns

Amongst other things LinkedIn will give you a direct link to the update, let you know when you posted it, whether your audience was targeted, whether the update is sponsored or not, how many impressions it made (meaning on how many people's timelines it showed up on,) how many people clicked on it and how many people interacted in some way by commenting or sharing. Finally it will tell you how many followers you acquired because of the update and the level of engagement with that update. You want a combination of impressions, interactions, followers acquired and engagement..

Ninja Tip: Keep an eye on your analytics and do more of what's working! If you have a business relevant update that’s gone viral on another platform (Facebook, Google, Twitter) post it on LinkedIn and consider sponsoring it too.

WRAPPING UP:

If you create a checklist you can breeze through these metrics every day, do what you need to do to improve your numbers, and start doing more business on LinkedIn. You will definitely see some ROI on your time investment (none of these features are paid). And really, what's the COI? The cost of inaction? More of the same.. Take a few minutes every day to conquer LinkedIn. Numbers don't lie!